How to find a id of a element that autogenerates?

Question

How do I find a element Id that is autogenerated which means that element will never have the same id once the browser reloads.

There's a way where I find that element string let's say "Click" by doing this in jquery:

$( "a:contains('Click')" ); which gives me this,

<a href="test.com" id=alwayschanging >Click</a>

How do I send a click event to that id or string?

possible duplicate of [How can I get the ID of an element using jQuery?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3239598/how-can-i-get-the-id-of-an-element-using-jquery) — Imashcha, May 15 '15 at 15:47
Please decide whether your question is "How do I find a element Id that is autogenerated" or "How do I send a click event to that id or string?" — Imashcha, May 15 '15 at 15:54

thodic · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-15T16:20:28.653

1

Use a selector which doesn't make use of the ID

$('a[href="saveFile"]').click()

If you can't use jQuery you will have to use

var els = document.getElementsByTagName("a");
for (var i = 0, l = els.length; i < l; i++) {
    var el = els[i];
    if (el.text === 'Click') {
        el.click()
    }
}

edited May 15 '15 at 16:20

answered May 15 '15 at 15:46

thodic

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it's really not a link to another website, it's a file once click you can save it. – TheKid May 15 '15 at 15:50
Could you post the tag with its attributes? – thodic May 15 '15 at 15:52
Click – TheKid May 15 '15 at 15:54
I thought you said the ID was autogenerated? – thodic May 15 '15 at 15:55
If you can add a unique class to the tag I would recommend using `$('a.unique_class').click()` – thodic May 15 '15 at 16:00
it is autogenerated, I dont' know what the next ID is going to look like, that's why I'm wondering how to do it, $("a:contains('Click')" ).attr('id'); this gives me the current ID of the link but IE browser doesn't like jquery for some reason that's why i need to find another way to do it – TheKid May 15 '15 at 16:00
@TheKid What version of jQuery are you using? 2.x drops IE support, but <2 should be fine. – Tony May 15 '15 at 16:01
If you really can't use jQuery use could use `document.getElementByTag("a").getElementsByClass("unique_class").click();` – thodic May 15 '15 at 16:03
How do you know which version of jQuery you are using? – TheKid May 15 '15 at 16:03
@OhAuth the link does not have unique class, only id. – TheKid May 15 '15 at 16:04
@TheKid check the version number in the script tag, where you include it. – thodic May 15 '15 at 16:04
@TheKid Then use `console.log($.fn.jquery)` – thodic May 15 '15 at 16:06
huh? use what? it says "2.1.1" my IE must not support JQUERY URG – TheKid May 15 '15 at 16:07
I need to find a way to figure out what that autogenerated ID will be each time so that I can programmatically click on it using document.getById("id").click(); – TheKid May 15 '15 at 16:09
@TheKid You have two options, find a selector which works or catch the ID server side. If the item is nested in an item with a unique ID you can use the CSS 'child of' operator `>`, read more here https://css-tricks.com/child-and-sibling-selectors/. – thodic May 15 '15 at 16:16
Can't i just find the tag " that has the string title "Click" and click on it? – TheKid May 15 '15 at 16:18
@TheKid text selectors are not part of the CSS specification so there is no clean native JS way of doing it but you should be able to use the solution in my answer edit. – thodic May 15 '15 at 16:22
Ok, that works thanks, so once it has clicked, i get the save dialog, how would i go about clicking the save button on that dialog? or just clicking the "Enter" key to automatically save it? – TheKid May 15 '15 at 17:34

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 15 '15 at 15:46

0

You don't need the id to send a click event. Just click it

$( "a:contains('Click')" ).click()

answered May 15 '15 at 15:46

Farzher

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that don't work. it only shows me the object information ect. – TheKid May 15 '15 at 15:51
Did you put any parameters inside the call to **click()**? – Imashcha May 15 '15 at 15:56
No. I did not but that shouldn't matter. – TheKid May 15 '15 at 16:01

How to find a id of a element that autogenerates?

2 Answers2